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Add a Webmaster-in-Residence position!
My son’s school has an artist-in-residence program whereby accomplished artists from around the community teach their specialty for a few weeks or months. Over the course of his elementary school years, he will be exposed to dozens of artists who approach their work in many different ways. It’s cost effective for the school compared to hiring a full-time staffer, it provides a far more diverse education to the students, it puts needed revenue in the artists’ pockets, and everyone learns a lot.
Why not copy this approach for your Web? Create a Webmaster-in-Residence (WIR) program, where bank employees, students, and/or contractors drive the development/maintenance of your non-financial Web content for short periods of time. Small business content would be especially well suited for this type of program, since you could tap MBA students or independent contractors (often small businesses themselves) to maintain the site.
WIRs could serve a three-month term providing four different perspectives over the course of a year. For example:
*WIR stands for Webmaster-in-Residence
In addition to their major content-creation projects, WIRs could also be charged with day-to-day maintenance responsibilities such as:
- Checking every link on the site at least once per month. Software tools can automate this task.
- Responding to user feedback and comments regarding the Web.
- Editing, updating, and improving the existing body of work.
- Maximizing exposure of your Web in search engines, Web award sites, Internet resource directories, yellow pages, link exchanges, etc.
- Maintaining relationships with current and potential Web sites posting links to yours.
- Tracking competitive Webs.
- Identifying inexpensive promotional opportunities in your target markets.
- Seeking out comments and suggestions from employees, users, and non-users through an online suggestion box, participation in employee meetings, participating in and monitoring USENET forums and listservs.
- Conducting usability testing.
- Evangelizing the Web site at internal meetings, networking/speaking with professional groups, and engaging prospects in email discussions.
1. Create an ongoing intern position paying the going rate for college students in your area. Assume the intern is familiar with the Web and able to use/learn basic HTML with minimal training. Interns would work three-month stints.
Annual Cost = $20,000 to $30,000 (at $10-15/hr)
2. Set them up with state-of-the-art Net access with 56k or faster access.
Annual Cost = $2,000 to $3,000
3. Budget a half-day per week to supervise/ review/approve their work.
Annual Cost = $2,500 (at $50/hr)
4. Ongoing technical support to test and implement WIR content on your Web (varies depending on technical abilities and what is being done).
Annual Cost = $5,000 to $10,000+
5. (Optional) Incentive bonus based on growth of hits/visitors/request for info/loan apps/etc.
Cost = $2,000+
Source: Online Banking Report estimates, 3/98
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